


Go Up A Hill

by EleanorSmith



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: i will post tags as i think of them, inspired by Gemini Rising, kinda massive
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-29
Updated: 2016-08-29
Packaged: 2018-08-11 21:37:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 5,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7908466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EleanorSmith/pseuds/EleanorSmith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wherever he was, she followed.  And he protected her.</p>
<p>And vice versa.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Gemini Rising](https://archiveofourown.org/works/437742) by [MostlyAnon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MostlyAnon/pseuds/MostlyAnon). 



> Stranger things have happened. Well, to normal people.
> 
> ((11 chapters coming up at once. unedited. mostly.))

When Hannah announced her pregnancy, everyone was thrilled. John was ecstatic to be a father, would gloat about Hannah constantly, be there when it was becoming hard for her to perform her job, and took leave when she could no longer. But, then there was the eezo spill she was caught in, and worry set in. How would it affect the baby?

John junior came into the world screaming and there was nothing more relieving to both parents.

\---

"I worry for his health," Hannah said, looking at the tumor on her arm. "What if this happens to him?"

"If it does, we have the money to treat him. And you'll get better, Hannah, I promise." John held her hand in his and kissed it.

The tumor turned out to be malign and was removed. After six months, the doctors said there were no more traces of eezo mutation in her body and called Hannah a goddamn miracle.

\--

Over a year later, Hannah announced her second pregnancy, and she thought her husband would explode with joy.

\--

Jane came into the world quiet, and that made her heart skip several beats before the doctor said--with a relieved sigh--that the baby girl was alive. But, they wanted to run some tests just in case, with Hannah's previous medical history.

Days passed, and Jane was proving to be a frail thing, but had a will to live. She kicked, feebly, as she was given to Hannah to feed. John brought their son in, and watched with amusement as her two-year-old looked at the small girl in her arms.

"She's tiny. Is she sick?" Junior asked, John lowering him to see his sister more closely.

"A little." Hannah said, John flashing her a sympathetic smile laced with worry.

Junior made a considering sound and Jane looked up to him, eyes blinking. His small hand reached out to her's and she gripped his finger, staring into his eyes. Both were quiet before Jane made a gurgling noise and Junior's eyes lit up.

"I'm gunna prah-tect her." John and Jane laughed.

\---

After the fourth time of losing them on the ship, Hannah trusted John to keep Jane safe, and vice versa. The children were becoming a handful, but they kept out of serious trouble. She was grateful the worse report she got was a handful of sweet rations had gone missing from the mess.

\---

Jane was academically smarter than her brother and should have been three grades above him, but she stayed in his class, and Hannah smiled absently. The two were attached to the hip.

\---

Especially after Jane's leg was broken during a brawl between a few other kids picking on one of her friends, and the leg would never heal due to her condition.

\---

Hannah and Jane argued, and Hannah always felt bad when they did, and watched her daughter wheel away to her room, slamming the door. Hormones--and the age gap between them. Something neither of them could help. She was unsure if she was proud or worried that she had never seen her daughter cry.

Junior came back from brain camp an hour later and stepped in Jane's room, seeing Hannah nursing her wine. Maybe it was the alcohol, but she slid up to the door and listened, and choked back a sob hearing her daughter cry into her son's shoulder, blaming herself for not being good enough.

\---

She placed a call to John to see if they had enough money put away for restorative therapy. Guilt bled into Hannah's voice and soul, knowing her daughter was like this because she wanted another child. John's voice filled her with sympathy and kindness and reassurance.

\---

The doctor's said it would take nearly ten years to properly restore Jane's leg. Green eyes challenged them.

\---

Six months later, Jane Shepard was not only walking, but had enlisted to follow her brother into the marines. John and Hannah had never been so proud in their lives.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.
> 
> But what if your best friend is your sibling?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kms

They were a pair to be reckoned with, the Shepard siblings.

John had brute force and biotics, but Jane had a subtler approach to the battlefield, being a hell of a tactician. The brass begrudgingly always stationed them together, despite regulations. If there was a problem that needed to be solved, you just didn't send one Shepard. And if you tried, Jane would more than likely make noise until you reunited them.

She almost had them both court martialed, once.

He'd rather be in that situation than the one he was facing now.

"Maybe it's environmental stressors?" Jane was saying over the comm, earning a snicker from a few of their team.

"Come again?" John asked for clarification, sweeping the area ahead as Batarian dropships landed in the distance.

"Environment can affect a person's psyche adversely if it's extreme enough," She mused from her nest, one of three he really couldn't pinpoint. "Would explain why Batarian's are complete assholes."

John sighed as a cacophony of laughter and 'hoo-rahs' echoed through his earpiece. She was trying to keep morale up, despite the odds in front of them.

"Can you not psycho-analyze the enemy?" He said, tracking a Batarian tank. Three clicks on the comm, six back for confirmation.

"Need to understand the enemy to defeat them." She hummed, the familiar sound of her sniper rifle humming to life in the background.

"I find that bullets kill an enemy pretty easily." He bantered back, glad for her little distraction. A 'hell yeah' from Simmons and two more snickers on the comm.

"You need to know where to place the bullet to do that, Junior," Her shot rang out and the tank exploded. A pause and then a roar of triumph from those they'd rallied. "Sir."

He sighed as the battle began.

\---

Third wave down, they shored up defenses. Things looked good, until the familiar flare of blue practically lit the horizon.

\---

So many injured, but still a batallion of Batarian biotics left. John's amps were fizzing out, one by one, and he could hear the wear and tear in Jane's voice.

\---

A girl, dark skinned, bald, no older than ten or twelve. She stood in the middle of a now dead ring of Batarians. Her lilac glowing eyes bored into him and addressed him, then Jane.

Glancing at Jane made his stomach drop like the time she'd brought home a varren pup from the hangar.

\---

The girl didn't have a name, so Jane gave her one. Then she went through the complicated red tape and paperwork to adopt her.

\---

John got promoted to Commander, and Jane alongside him to Lieutenant Commander. They argued, as they always did, about it. John degraded himself, Jane talked him up. She was always smarter than him, better than him, but she argued he knew people, knew how to talk to them, and could be a beacon someone with a crippling disease couldn't.

\---

"How can you be in my shadow all the time? Doesn't it make you jealous? That's something other people would kill their siblings for!" He half-snapped, and she smiled loosely at him.

"If you haven't noticed, we're not like other people," She leaned on the rail in front of the viewport. "At times, yeah, it makes me jealous having to live in it."

"Then why?" He was exasperated, frustrated, confused.

"Johnny, even from your shadow, I've been able to do things most soldiers couldn't. I'm actually comfortable in it. They never really expect or suspect me." Half of the story was out, something he actually did suspect.

"For how long?"

She hummed, swaying side to side slowly. "Since the Blitz. Hackett saw through my bullshit when I talked you up while avoiding my involvement. Gave me a few test missions," She looked into the starfield. "I'm sorry I kept it from you," She snorted a laugh. "I thought it'd be better if you figured it out for yourself."

\---

John was angry, but he understood her reasoning. They both understood each other no other person did.

But he was going to get her back, just not as badly, because he wasn't going to stoop to her level. He had standards, he mused.

\---

The opportunity arose unexpectedly during their approach to Eden Prime, when Anderson briefed him after the horrifying transmission from the colony. Nihlus wasn't just here to test John for the Spectres, but to also test Jane.

She didn't need to know that, though. He sent her with the Turian, and after much convincing, Nihlus agreed.

\---

John hadn't thought that decision would save the Spectre. Jane had been lurking with her cloak on when Saren pulled the gun on Nihlus when he hadn't been looking. She'd overloaded the device and shot the turian's hand, sending him on the run.

\---

Of course, she'd pursued after applying medigel to an enraged Nihlus. By the time they had caught up, she cloaked past the Geth and disabled the bombs and had been working her way back to their ragtag squad.

\---

If she hadn't been scouting the area out of range of the beacon's blast, they would have never had the video proving Saren guilty. Tali's information only confirmed the turian's treason.

\---

Saren was on the run.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mother's worry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm gettin' a bit hungry ;^;

Jane threw her bag onto her bunk in the crew quarters then sat down, checking her omnitool, hoping to have a message from her mother. She sighed when all she found was the latest reports from Hackett and spam that had gotten through her filter.

"No word?" John's voice. He was leaning on the opposite bunk.

"I just don't know where she could have gone," She half-growled, half-sighed. "She's a teenager with glowing, purple eyes. Shouldn't be hard to find her."

"She'll turn up, Janie. She usually does when you're doing something interesting."

Jane snorted.

\---

"Do you always have to be right?" John's snort came through on her earpiece and she watched him signal the squad to at-ease.

"Commander?" Nihlus asked, hesitantly lowering his rifle, then watching Jane carefully approach the short, armored figure.

"You could write. I'd worry less." Jane said to the girl, show turned her helmeted head to look at her adoptive mother.

"Counterproductive." Her voice was as monotonous as ever, even as she kept knelt and pulled a datacore from the offlined Geth.

"Thanks," Jane deadpanned. "Mind telling me what you're doing here?" Her hands were on her hips, making her feel more like Hannah Shepard than Jane at that moment.

"Orders." The girl said simply, then returned her attention to the datacore, the tip of her finger opening and a circuit stretching out, making contact with an access port.  
"Uh-huh." She deadpanned once more.

"Ah, Lieutenant? Who is this?" Nihlus spoke up as he approached.

"Right, manners, since she lacks them," Jane turned around to face her brother's fireteam. "Nihlus, Liara, Tali, this is Kidd. My adoptive daughter."

\---

Tali had a million questions more than Nihlus or Liara, but Jane shook them all off, said there'd be time later.

\---

The Mako was cramped, but warmer than the conditions than Noveria, if only slightly. After Nihlus made a quip, Kidd had souped up the heat.  
Jane didn't know turians could gape. She made a point to ask Garrus about it later.

\---

The possibility of killing Benezia seemed to be the only one, until John sicced Kidd on her. The girl managed to knock the asari out, much to Liara's relief.

\---

A sour feeling in her stomach after John released the Rachni queen, but had she been in his position, she might have done the same. Dooming an entire species because of past deeds seemed wrong. Jane thought of Wrex and frowned.

\---

Benezia was put into quarantine and Jane laughed at the startled look Kidd had when Liara almost crushed the girl with a hug.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emotions are scary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what should I have to eat?

"Your daughter came down here earlier and asked to help with the Mako." Garrus said as he looked down at Jane from his perch. She crossed her arms at him with a look on her face that reminded him of his own mother catching him with his father's gun.

"Did you let her?" Her tone was bland.

He shrugged. "After what Kryik said about the heating modulator, I thought it couldn't hurt," His mandible flicked out in a grin. "Besides, you know where to find me if you want to kill me."

She sighed, her shoulders deflating a bit. Defeat or at ease, or maybe both. Garrus was convinced by the end of this tour, he'd have human expressions down pat.

"Was she any trouble?"

"Only until she started modifying my gun."

She laughed, a hearty sound that seemed to originate from her chest. "Tell me about it. After the Blitz, I had to start hiding my gear." She crossed around the Mako and examined Kidd's work. A long silence fell between them.

"Is she human?" Garrus asked quietly. Jane paused suddenly and he wondered if he'd asked the wrong question.

"I don't know," She answered, just as quietly. The she looked at him, something deep and dark and sad in her gaze. "There's no record of her anywhere, and she looks so human-like. If I had left her to the brass, they would have taken her apart," She looked away and pursed her lips. "It doesn't matter if she's human or not, she's just a kid."

"Or looks like one." Garrus put in, and she shook her head.

"She is one. You don't know her like I do," She stood and sauntered to his perch and leaned against it. "Sure, she can kill a man from over a thousand yards, but she's always asking questions. She's constantly learning, and when you get to know her, it's with this almost unbridled sense of childish curiosity."

Garrus thought for a moment, and recalled that, yes, Kidd had been asking him a lot of questions.

"It makes me wonder what she's been through."

\---

Garrus decided he didn't like Feros at all, and Nihlus was in agreement.

\---

The Commander had decided to bring the whole team, just in case. Ash and Kaiden were to handle the civilians, if they could. Tali and Kidd dispatched the Geth on the lower levels. Liara and Wrex went with Jane to settle things with the scientists. Garrus and Nihlus were to stick with the Commander as they tried the figure out what the hell was going on.

\---

Tali's distressed voice came over the comm. The Geth had done something to Kidd and taken her. Jane's anger could be heard when she asked for confirmation.

\---

If Liara hadn't been there, Garrus wasn't sure any of the colonists would've survived.

\---

Garrus found Kidd, sprawled face first into the floor. He leaned down on instinct to check her vitals and was surprised to find a pulse, rapidly beating, and sporadic eye movement. When she opened her luminous eyes, they were filled with fear.

\---

"We can't kill it!" Kidd's voice was frantic. "Please!"

"Kidd, we have to!"

"There's so much information! Please, we can't waste it! Let me--"

"Absolutely not."

"Mom, please!"

\---

Kidd was out for three days after the battle with the Thorian, her skin darkened with green, but it cleared. She was quiet for a week more and unseen by most of the crew. Even Garrus' sharp eye couldn't find her.

\---

"Your aim module is bugged." The voice was monotonous, but not as it once was, and Garrus looked up from his modifications.

"Bugged?" He asked Kidd as she crawled on the box to sit beside him.

"It's not your fault. The bloatware was made to be nearly undetectable," She offered her hand to him, open-palmed, and he handed the module to her to look at. "C-Sec will figure it out about a year from now. I haven't sent the patch yet," She scanned it with her omni-tool, and handed the aim mod back. "I wanted to wait and see if you wanted to send it?"

He looked at this human girl with her robotic modifications and really considered her. Neat, precise scars nearly littered her scalp, around her eyes, her neck. There was some blue glowing under her skin around her jaw and cheeks, suggesting circuitry. Where she was once bare-skinned, small pinpricks of blonde were poking through.

"I'll send it," He said, opening his omnitool. "But I'm slapping your name in the report."

She considered him for a moment, and nodded.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virmire, Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wish the steak was thawed out

Ash liked John. And she liked Kaiden. But she found Kaiden far easier to relate to as they sat and drank in the mess, bellyaching. He'd fallen head over heels with the Lieutenant Commander, but she wasn't at all interested in him, and he hurt because of it. She'd confessed her crush on John and how it had complicated her friendship with Jenkins and he snorted.

"It's not funny, Alenko," She pointed an accusing finger at him. "The kid won't even look at me without this sad puppy face like I kicked him!"

Kaiden's laughter stopped as he considered her words for a moment. She wondered if she'd said the wrong thing.

"No, I," He hummed, a deep thing from his throat. "I guess I can see where he's coming from. Just haven't thought about the other side."

"Shit, Alenko, I'm sorry." She said, and he shook his head at her.

"Nah, don't be. It's," His face twisted weird for a moment as he held down a burp and she hid a smile as it escaped. "Sorry. It's been good talking to you. Maybe we can chat it up some other time?"

"I'd like that." Ash said with a dumb smile on her face.

\---

If they'd get that time.

\---

Virmire was awful, but the whole 'krogan breeding ground' thing wasn't the thing that made it bad. It was the tension between Wrex and everyone else. She told the Commander and Lieutenant what she thought about the situation. There was hope that John would talk him down.

Everyone was surprised when Jane headbutted the Krogan and they got into a wrestling match.

She looked on with the others, horrified that this was it, Jane Shepard would die here fighting a krogan warlord over this.

As Wrex had her pinned and began to punch the shit out of her face, guns were drawn, and surprising them for the second time that day, John ordered them to back down.

"Are you insane, Shepard? He's going to kill her!" Nihlus barked.

That seemed to stop Wrex's fist in mid strike. The Krogan looked down at Jane, her face bloodied, then to his fist, and for a long moment there was silence. Then Wrex stood and helped Jane up, offering her medi-gel.

Ash had never seen a Krogan look so defeated in her life.

\---

She might never again, she mused, being pinned by Geth with Kiarrhe's squad.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virmire, Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe i shoulda put those two together?

"Remote detonation's offline. I'll have to set it off manually," Kaiden said, bile on his tongue. "Go save the Chief. It's the right choice."

"Like hell it is!" Ash's voice came over the comm, and his heart ached. He thought he'd have time to actually get to know her. But he was a military at the core, just like her. This needed to be done.

"Lieutenant," Jane's voice snapped over the comm. "If you think for a second I'm leaving you and my daughter behind, you are mistaken."

"What?" Kaiden choked, then heard the sound of a cloak dissipating behind him. He turned to see Kidd with sympathetic eyes. Before he could glare, she nudged him aside.

"Ma'am?" Kidd said over the comm. "I can fix the remote detonator, but I won't be able to get the Lieutenant or myself to safety."

"How long will it take?" John asked, gunfire over the comm.

"Less than what's left on the detonator." Was she...smiling at him?

"Will you be able to hold out until we can get there?"

"We'll manage, Commander," Kaiden said, then clicked off his comm to talk to the girl. "You stayed."

"Of course," Her fingers flew over wires and circuits. "I may have the emotional capacity of a..." She looked for a proper term.

"Brick?" He suggested.

"Yes," She smiled slightly at him again. "But I'm not blind. I do know how romance works. And throwing your life away is not the type of romance Gunnery Chief Williams likes."

\---

Kaiden wasn't sure if he was unnerved by Kidd or if she was starting to grow on him. But he wasn't thinking of that right now. He was thinking of holding Ashley in his arms as they laughed over a drink.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revenge is a rotten taste.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was beginning to wear down. lots of ideas, but no fleshing it out
> 
> sorry ;^;

With Kidd and Tali's help, Liara was able to preserve Vigil while on Ilos. Kidd had a suspiciously Geth looking data storage compartment, but no one was in the mood to complain or question it. Saren was on his way to the conduit.

\---

The Citadel was in chaos. Dead bodies lined the streets. Liara wanted to vomit, to cry, to scream in frustration. John had their course. She wanted to tear Saren apart, flay him alive with biotics for what he had done. For the frequent empty stares her mother now gave her.

\---

Her breath hitched as John tried to talk Saren down. She marveled that about him--loved that about him. He never gave up on people. And she was sick at herself for the revenge she wanted, and swore she never would feel that way again.

\---

Saren seemed to break for a moment, questioning himself as Nihlus demanded answers, revealing a relationship she had long suspected. The asari watched as Kidd and Jane flanked and subdued him, shorting out all the electrical equipment.

\---

Harbinger would not go down easily and possessed the body of a young human girl to terrorize them with.

\---

The council chamber was in ruins, John nor Jane were to be seen. Anderson asked her and Nihlus, but both shook their heads. Rubble shifted, guns lifted, and she flared her biotics. From the debris came John and Jane, the elder using the younger as a crutch as she guided him safely to a medic.

His right leg was broken.

\---

Liara stayed on the Normandy, feeling she needed to be there, regardless of her mother's condition.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Am I Not Human?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gfd i'm so hungry

Kidd finally let her mother take her to see Chakwas for an exam, as long as the medical files were between the three of them. The doctor was impressed by the extent of her synthetic modifications and asked a lot of questions, most of which she could answer, a few she could not because it was classified.

All-in-all, Kidd seemed to be healthy and growing, to which both she and Jane groaned at, earning an amused laugh from Chakwas.

\---

"Is the Alliance really going to allow me to stay with you?" She asked, while fiddling with an ancient human toy in the shape of a block and disarrayed colors.

Jane was silent for a moment, considering. "I'm pulling a lot of strings to keep you with me. I'll have to start doing favors."

"To keep them from experimenting on me?"

Jane was silent again.

"If it puts you at ease," She said, putting the completed puzzle down on the table. "They wouldn't be able to hold me long," Jane smiled at her, a real smile, not the polite ones she shared with the crew and occasionally Uncle John when she was mad at him. "I doubt anything could separate me from you, at this point."

\---

Kidd watched in horror as Jane jumped from the pod after John, crying his name. The pod door slid shut as the propulsion engines jettisoned them from the dying ship. She hadn't even known she screamed.

\---

Kidd remembered. She'd been doing that a lot lately. Being with Shepard had triggered her long-term memory before the experiments. It seemed to help with her identity.  
She remembered she hated funerals. Especially ones without bodies.

In the back of the hall, she sat with her eyes hidden. She couldn't hide the tears though. Or the choking sound she made when she tried to stop. When she angrily brushed away the tears, a woman sat next to her and introduced herself as Hannah Shepard.

Kidd hugged the woman around the waist and bawled into her navy blues.

\---

She was gone before 0600. The reports amused her. A wanted suspect in the case of Commander and Lieutenant Commander Shepards' deaths.

None of the crew would comply to questioning or interviews.

\---

Four months of stowing away on ships, she found herself on Omega. And was asked to see Aria T'Loak, the Queen of the Hell.

\---

"You're interesting." Aria said at once, back turned as she watched the movement of Purgatory below.

"You must have good reasoning and information behind that statement. Ma'am." She added hurriedly.

Aria turned to her and nodded to her men, who backed away, then gestured to the seat farthest from her. Kidd took it and watched the asari carefully.

"I'm not normally one to give out information freely, because it all has a price," She stated, sitting and crossing her ankle over her knee. "But I've found myself bored and in a state of sympathy for the late Commander."

Kidd bit back a remark and continued to watch Aria. The woman smiled dangerously.

"A few years back, some colonies and a quarian ship were attacked, some three-hundred children of various species unaccounted for," Aria's eyes watched Kidd as the girl tensed. "Then sightings of children and teenagers years later with strange cybernetic enhancements started popping up."

"Are you outing me?"

"Not yet. But would I really be outing you if you don't even know who you are?"

\---

Aria asked about the asari in the program Kidd had been kidnapped into. Kidd knew them all, which ones survived the process and which ones didn't. One of the names seemed to put the Queen of Omega at ease, and she slipped Kidd a info drive.

\---

The information made her head spin and blank spots in her memories filled and became clear.

\---

Kidd took out three assassin's and sent their bodies back to Aria, as thanks. And she stayed, taking out anyone who dared to fuck up Aria's domain.

\---

Vakarian was just as surprised to see her.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reunions are rough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may make a sandwich

"What are you doing here, Kidd?" He hissed over the firefight. She flinched a bit from behind their cover as a bullet grazed too close for his liking.

"Haven't you heard? I'm a wanted delinquent." She drawled back, taking the chance to peek up and shoot at their assailants. His subharmonics growled with distress and anger, not necessarily directed at the small girl next to him.

"So you came to Omega?" He deadpanned, using his omni-tool to let his men know the situation. There might be just three of them, but that was all they needed to turn the tides of this battle.

"Ended up here. One of the ships I stowed on landed here," She crouched and looked through her visor and his. "I had nowhere to go, and Aria had information for me. So I decided to repay her by fucking up people who fuck up her day."

He winced, knowing language like that would get a smack from Jane. His heart sank suddenly, and he shook his had to focus. Jane was gone. She couldn't protect Kidd. He would have to.

"You need to leave Omega." He said sternly, trying to channel his father.

"Not a chance. You're in a rough spot. You need my help."

"No way."

\---

Before he could introduce her to the crew, she butted in and called herself Weaver.

And for two years she was useful to not only the team, but to his mental health.

\---

"Butler's down!" Melenis cried through the comm, but a shot and her comm went silent.

"Melenis!" Garrus cried as he ran.

"Boss, get back here, now!" Kidd's voice snapped, gunfire almost drowning her voice. "Mierien, get pressure on that wound! Fall back!"

\---

Erash, Sensat, and Kidd were all that were left when he fought off the wave that tried to do his squad in. Sensat and Kidd were covered in various colored blood and Erash had a look in his eyes he had never seen a Batarian have before.

\---

Kidd went to secure the shutters and found Monteague, close to bleeding out. Sensat helped her get him to the room they were using while Erash covered them. He took a shot to the shoulder. Sensat informed them in his Salarian way that they were running low on medigel and Monteague may not survive.

\---

His breath left his lungs seeing the N7 insignia on the breastplate of one of the mercs.

\---

"Garrus! What are you doing here?"

\---

It felt...right. Both of them fighting off wave after wave of mercs to escape. He'd call out a shot, Jane would duck out of the way. Massani guarded the door as he listened to Sensat, Kasumi, and Kidd take care of the rest of the shutters over the comms.

He had a sick feeling they'd be getting out of this alive.

\---

Jane nearly bellowed his name as he took the full brunt of the assault from the gunship. He heard he cracked voice of Kidd scream, but it was lost to his translator as the world went painfully dark.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Survival.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more, then I'm done for the night, i swear

The short woman stood in full, blood splotched armor, hands and helmet pressed against the medbay's window, watching.

"Weaver," The Salarian said from the mess table. "The Boss will be okay. Come sit and have a nutrient bar."

Jane watched as the woman's shoulder's deflated and turned, only to freeze when she noticed Jane watching her. She put her hands up to show she was no harm, but the woman remained glued in place.

"Weaver?" The Salarian said again, looking between the two women.

She bolted to the battery and sealed the door. No matter what Jane and EDI did, they couldn't get it open. The salarian said to give her time.

\---

On other matters, the prospect of Garrus never surviving made her sick. It was a wave of relief to see him walk into the comm room and smirked when John cracked a joke. Then there was the quip about scars and he briefly glanced to Jane.

If he hadn't survived that, she would've made sure Cerberus would bring him back like they brought John back.

\---

They both sat in the lounge, talking.

"Yeah, I survived that, believe it or not. I'm hardier than I look," Garrus snorted. "Sure puts what I learned back in scouts in the area of 'warm, fluffy bed'."

"So, you just joined Cerberus when they picked you up?"

"Hey, I shot a bunch of them first," She paused. "And I'm not with them. They had a way to save my brother, I did some of their dirty work to pass the time. I'm not proud of that." She looked down at her scarred hands and both were quiet as they looked at the stars.

\---  
Eventually, Garrus had to deal with Weaver, and he asked her to be there. They finally got the door open and found the armor Weaver wore shed on the ground. She'd wedged herself between the cannon, a place Garrus couldn't get to, so Jane volunteered before he could protest.

She had a head full of beautiful, curly blonde hair and looked up at Jane like she was a lie.

Kidd launched herself at Jane and hugged her tight around the waist, sobbing into her Cerberus whites.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Computers are Weird.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WELL THEY ARE

Anderson could cut the tension with the knife between Alenko and the Shepard siblings. They all stood there as John tried to disarm the situation, and Jane butted him, prodding Kaiden in the chest, ending the argument with "we don't need to explain ourselves to anyone, especially you." Alenko stormed off and Jane pulled her hair from the knot on her head to redo it.

The council meeting could have gone better, too. Well, it could have gone worse. The councilors were grateful for John saving them and reinstated his Spectre status, but he was to keep to the Terminus systems.

\---

He took them to see their parents. John Senior was on his deathbed due to overexposure of eezo during a tour.

The family was relieved to be reunited again.

\---

Major John Shepard Senior died a week after the events on Horizon. Anderson sent his sympathies through a contact in Cerberus.

xxxxx

"Kidd?" John called to the girl, who seemed to be daydreaming. When she didn't respond, he tried again.

"Huh? Yes, sir?"

"Are you okay?"

She looked troubled and she thought about her response to him. It was sometimes amusing watching her think, but right now, he had a knot of worry in his gut.

"I'm not sure," She turned to Tali. "Are you picking up anything strange in that Geth transmission?"

Tali had been very cool towards Kidd, especially since the whole "oh, yeah, I was a Geth experiment" reveal, but trusted her on missions. "Nothing I can pick up. Are you?"

Kidd was quiet for a moment. "I'm not sure." She responded, looking toward the approximate location of the ship.

\---

The Geth knew who he was.

"That's new."

"And ominous." Kidd added, her eyes glued to the spot where the Geth had been.

\---

Legion was forthcoming about his information, but surprised him when he confirmed Kidd's existence. The conversation reminded him of two computers speaking to each other in jargon beyond him. Actually, it was exactly what it was.

\---

"What does 'upgrade' mean?" Jane asked, stepping into the room.

"Kidd-Unit's software is outdated." Legion responded simply.

"I haven't been in contact with the Collective in over three years," She turned to Legion. "Can you modifiy the upgrade and following updates to not alter my core personality?"

Legion tilted his head at her in question. "It is done. Hardlink connection required."

"Great." Kidd deadpanned.

\---

John was impressed with the upgrade. Kidd could manipulate electric currents like he could biotics and started to train with him.

\---

Those upgrades ended up saving Joker's life when the Collector's stole the Normandy's crew.


End file.
